We recently connected with Dylan Berry and have shared our conversation below.
Dylan, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.
Life is a risk. Relationships are a risk. Everything you do is risky, but what is risk? Risk is forward progress. The action of moving forward even though you may fail. This is what I call progress. Without risk, you are idle. Without failures, you are not learning, progressing, becoming more valuable to all around you. I think this is what makes me a good consultant; I constantly take risks and I can help others avoid making the same mistakes I did, and also benefit them by paving the road to success that I have paved in the creative, non-traditional ways I have managed to navigate it all.
When you are going with the flow, following the herd, yes, you get scraps falling off the wagon train, but do you ever really win big? Only those who take risks, who swim upstream and work against the grain, have the biggest outcomes.
This does not mean you need to innovate or be a rebel. It just means you need to be strategic in how you integrate into the herd. You need to be strategic to channel off the business that is working into new realms or elevate something that is fundamentally needed.
Example: Vine came before TikTok. TikTok, despite the controversies, elevated what had already been. Vine elevated what Instagram had done but tuning it in, Instagram simplified what Facebook had done to hone in on a specific demographic, photographers… The world is about refining and improving. Only a few will truly innovate. Then what comes next is integration to improve, and this is typically when the big successes happen.
Remember AOL? Remember Blockbuster Video? Remember Kodak? Where are they now? Beaten by better integrations and improvements on what they had done. Blockbuster laughed at Netflix early on, basically saying, “We are not worried.” Oops.
Kodak was convinced that film cameras would never be overtaken by digital. Oops. I don’t even need to discuss AOL. You get it.
Risk is evolution. Often, corporations get so bogged down with processes and stipulations and multiple levels of idea killers they call board meetings, and thus, never take risks. Typically, they ride the safe zone until they sell or fizzle out. A few named above did just that. Oops.
Take risks. Integrate and improve. Learn from the past. This is forward progress.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Dylan Berry is a standout figure in the entertainment industry, skillfully navigating roles as an entrepreneur, consultant, and public figure. His impact and creative pursuits span from Hollywood’s glamour to the diverse cultures of the Nordics, Africa, and India. Dylan has played a crucial role in supporting billion-dollar ventures in the media and entertainment sectors. As the founder of Th3Syndicate, he has created a formidable network of industry leaders, driving collaboration and innovation.
Dylan’s voice resonates in the industry, not just as a public speaker but also as a talk show host. His presence is felt in media properties like Netflix’s “SpyCraft” and his weekly podcast “About This Art Life,” focusing on celebrities and the entertainment industry.
In his current role, Dylan provides consultancy services with a focus on business development and strategy, contributing to various international projects.
As a public speaker, Dylan is known for delivering engaging keynotes and multimedia presentations, designed to motivate and educate businesses in the entertainment sector.
www.dylanberryofficial.com
Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?
SmashHaus, one of my earliest businesses, was funded with only $16k. With that, we built a prototype to manage music submissions at scale. By doing this, we replaced the need for dozens of staff members to create large amounts of music. This allowed us to embed in Post Production facilities as a white label, branded as the facility, which immediately gained trust with their clients. As such, we were able to, for next to nothing, drive business in a very simplistic model (our MVP) and immediately landed the top-rated shows on TV, including American Idol, Oscars, MTV Music Awards… This led to revenue, which I reinvested back into more tech to create more efficiencies. With this, we managed to run hundreds of TV shows and all of their music for over 15 years with just me, the tech, and one or two employees.
The lesson here is: DO NOT OVERSPEND. Create an MVP; if it works, reinvest in it with cash flow. Start small, grow at a rate you can manage. Then put more gas in the tank, be it funding or investing from your cash flow.
Most businesses will sink their own ship by overspending early on or funding the company with more than they need, putting themselves in perpetual debt. Don’t do that.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Every risk I took, failure or not, made me better at what I do.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.dylanberryofficial.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/dylanberryofficial2
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/therealdylanberry/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDylanBerry
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@dylanberryofficial
Image Credits
Cherry Bombs